SAINT PETER, Minn. – The 2021-22 Academic All-District Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country Teams, selected by CoSIDA, were released Thursday and two Gustavus student-athletes received recognition. Elizabeth Donnelly (Sr., Langely, Wash.) and Birgen Nelson (Jr., Edina) earned CoSIDA Academic All-District honors, recognizing the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances in athletic competition and in the classroom.
Donnelly, a sociology and anthropology double major with a 3.98 GPA, earned All-America status at the 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships with a seventh place finish in the 800-meter. Donnelly is a four-time MIAC champion, winning the 2022 outdoor 800-meter, 2022 outdoor 4×400 relay, 2022 indoor 600-meter, and the 2020 distance medley relay. Donnelly has claimed five All-Conference honors and USTFCCCA All-Region honors in the 4×400 relay and 800-meter in 2022. She was also a member of the winning sprint medley relay team at the 2022 Drake Relays. Donnelly holds school records in the indoor 800-meter (2:11.97), indoor 1000-meter (2:53.02), indoor 600-meter (1:33.38), indoor 4×400 relay (3:55.24), outdoor 800-meter (2:10.56), and outdoor 1500-meter (4:35.68).
Nelson, a political science and classical languages double major with a 3.98 GPA, makes her second appearance on the All-District Team after earning Third Team CoSIDA Academic All-America honors last year. Nelson recently earned MIAC Outstanding Track Athlete and Outstanding Performance of the Meet at the 2022 MIAC Championships where she won all four of her events. The Outstanding Performance of the Meet came in the 100-hurdles where she broke her own conference record with a time of 13.71, which was also a school and facility record, and ranks No. 1 in NCAA Division III. Her winning time of 1:00.64 in the 400-hurdles was also a school and facility record, and ranks No. 4 in the nation. Nelson is a three-time All-America after taking second in the 100-hurdles and fifth in the 400-hurdles at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Nelson also took seventh in the 60-hurdles at the 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships. She was the first Gustie woman in program history to earn Indoor All-America in an individual track event. Nelson is the school record holder in the outdoor 100-hurdles, 400-hurdles, 4×100 relay, and indoor 60-hurdles, 4×400 relay, and 200-meter. Nelson has claimed 10 All-Conference honors and five conference titles. She was most recently named the USTFCCCA North Region Track Athlete of the Year.
Academic All-District honorees advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America ballot where First, Second, and Third Team Academic All-America honorees will be announced in mid-June.